Born in 1920. In August 1930, the Votyakov family was exiled from Astrakhan to the village Pokur. Fedor studied at school until 1935. At the age of 16 he began working at the fish farm - he loaded sacks of flour. In 1937 he took part in logging. In 1942 he was mobilized into the ranks of the Red Army. From May to October 1942 he studied at the Ulyanovsk Tank School, and in December he ended up in Nizhny Tagil, where he received a tank. From there immediately to the front, near Stalingrad. Combat path: participated in the battles at Stalingrad. Here Fyodor Antonovich received his first wound. For about 3 months he was treated in a hospital, and in 1943 he got into the 16th Lithuanian division, in a company of machine gunners. The battles were fought in the direction of the Oryol-Kursk Bulge, where he received a second severe wound in the leg. The third wound was in the knee. Commissioned in December 1944 for disability.
